Documentation to the NCES Common Core of Data Public ...nces.ed.gov/ccd/pdf/2012323.pdfschools coded as operating. 2. and 3,187 schools coded as non-operating schools. Among the operating

NCES 2013-323 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Documentation to the NCES Common Core of Data Public Elementary/ Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File: School Year 2011-12

Documentation to the NCES

Common Core of Data Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File: School Year 2011-12

December 2012

Patrick Keaton National Center for Education Statistics

NCES 2013-323

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

U.S. Department of Education

Arne Duncan Secretary

Institute of Education Sciences

John Q. Easton Director National Center for Education Statistics

Jack Buckley Commissioner

Elementary/Secondary & Libraries Studies Division

Jeffrey Owings Associate Commissioner

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing,

and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional

mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of education

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and report on education activities in foreign countries.

NCES activities are designed to address high-priority education data needs; provide consistent, reliable,

complete, and accurate indicators of education status and trends; and report timely, useful, and high-

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December 2012

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Suggested Citation

Keaton, P. (2012). Documentation to the NCES Common Core of Data Public Elementary/Secondary

School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File: School Year 2011-12 (NCES 2013-323). U.S. Department of

Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved [date] from

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.

Content Contact

Patrick Keaton

(202) 502-7386

[email protected]

iii

Contents

Page

I. Introduction to the NCES Common Core of Data Public Elementary/Secondary School

Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File: School Year 2011-12 .........................................1

II. User’s Guide ..............................................................................................................................3

A. Methodology ........................................................................................................................3

B. Limitations of the Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Data Preliminary

Directory File .....................................................................................................................15

List of Tables

Table 1 - File Extraction Dates for Directory File: School Year 2011-12 .......................................4

Table 2 - American National Standards Institute (ANSI) State Codes and Abbreviations Used in

CCD Datasets ..................................................................................................................13

Table 3 - List of Schools with Mailing Address in Another State: School Year 2011-12 ............14

Appendixes

Appendix A—Record Layout for the Common Core of Data Public Elementary/Secondary

School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory: School Year 2011-12 ............. A-1

Appendix B—Value Distribution and Field Frequencies for the Common Core of Data Public

Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory: School

Year 2011-12 .......................................................................................................B-1

Page intentionally left blank.

1

I. Introduction to the NCES Common Core of Data Public Elementary/Secondary School

Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File: School Year 2011-12

The Common Core of Data (CCD) nonfiscal surveys consist of data submitted annually to the

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by state education agencies (SEAs) in the 50

states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the four U.S. Island Areas (American Samoa,

Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), the

Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).

In order to provide comparable data across states to the maximum extent feasible, NCES and

SEAs have worked since the 1950s to develop and accept common data items and definitions.

SEAs report school-, agency-, and state-level education data through the U.S. Department of

Education’s EDFacts data collection system.

The purpose of the CCD nonfiscal surveys is to provide a listing of all schools and agencies

providing free public elementary and secondary education, along with basic descriptive statistical

information on each school and agency listed. The CCD includes all settings in which free public

education is provided to children. However, some SEAs do not provide information on education

outside of the traditional public school system – such as schools in correctional facilities or

hospitals – while others do provide this information. As defined in the EDFacts file

specifications, a school is an institution that provides educational services; instructs one or more

grade groups (prekindergarten through 12) or is ungraded; contains one or more buildings; has an

assigned administrator(s); receives public funds as its primary support; and is operated by an

education agency.

To ensure accuracy of the CCD nonfiscal data, CCD survey staff1 works with contractors to

screen, examine, and edit the original data that are submitted by the states through the EDFacts

data collection system. The quality control process involves extensive cross year, file, and source

data checks and iterative data reviews. It often takes several months to release the official dataset

after the raw data are submitted. In an attempt to balance between timeliness and data integrity,

NCES now publishes preliminary directory files for the CCD nonfiscal agency and school

surveys. At a later time, NCES will publish a full preliminary file for both school and agency

that will include all of the available CCD nonfiscal variables.

The Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File includes

data for the following variables: NCES school ID number, state school ID number, name of the

school, name of the agency that operates the school, phone number, mailing address, physical

location address, school type, operational status, charter status, urban-centric locale code,

latitude, longitude, ANSI county number, county name, low grade offered, and high grade

offered. The categorical variables have been edited to ensure they only contain valid values, but

the accuracy of the variables has not been reviewed. For example, the charter school indicator

variable only allows a valid code of ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘M’, or ‘N’; therefore, a value of ‘3’ in the file

would be suppressed and shown as missing. However, whether a school’s charter status was

reported correctly has not been reviewed. The geographic variables are assigned based on the

1 CCD survey staff collectively refers to staff employed by NCES as well as staff who are employed by other

organizations who perform collection, editing, processing tasks on behalf of NCES. For SY 2011-12 these

organizations included staff at the U.S. Census Bureau and the American Institutes for Research.

2

reported school location address. There are 323 schools where geographical variables are

missing because SEAs submitted revisions after the initial set of geographical coding was

applied to the file. The geographic data will be applied to these schools in future 2011-12 files.

In the 2011-12 CCD Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary

Directory File, there are 103,264 records – one for each public elementary and secondary school

in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern

Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and BIE. Of the 103,264 records, there are 100,077

schools coded as operating2 and 3,187 schools coded as non-operating schools. Among the

operating schools, 90,377 are regular elementary and secondary, 2,109 are special education,

1,438 are vocational/technical, 6,153 are alternative/other schools.

The remainder of this document contains a user’s guide and appendixes. The user’s guide

contains information on CCD methodology, including certain conditions that are unique to this

data file, and limitations of the file.

Appendix A – Record Layout gives the variable names and labels of the data elements

discussed throughout the documentation, as well as their location in the data file.

Appendix B – Value Distribution and Field Frequencies indicates the frequency,

percentage, cumulative frequency, and cumulative percent of all categorical variables.

2 The 100,077 operating schools include those currently open, new, added, changed agency, and reopened. Those schools are

coded as 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8 for school status, respectively. The 3,187 nonoperational schools are closed (2), temporarily inactive

(6), and future (7).

3

II. User’s Guide

A. Methodology

The EDFacts data collection system is the primary collection tool for the CCD nonfiscal data.

NCES works collaboratively with the Department of Education’s Performance Information

Management Service to develop the CCD collection procedures and data definitions.

Coordinators from SEAs submit the CCD data at different levels (school, agency, and state) to

the EDFacts data collection system. Prior to submitting CCD files to EDFacts, SEAs must

collect and compile information from their respective local education agencies (LEAs) via

established administrative records systems within their state or jurisdiction. Once SEAs have

completed their submissions, the CCD survey staff analyzes and verifies the CCD for quality

assurance. CCD survey staff routinely verified data through SEA coordinators and did not

contact LEAs or individual schools to verify data except in unusual circumstances. After

performing edits and consistency checks, CCD survey staff referred discrepancies to SEA

coordinators for resolution. It is CCD policy to accept the judgment of the respondent unless

there is a clear conflict or unacceptable inconsistency.

In the context of the CCD, a school is an organization composed of students and staff.3 The CCD

school definition recognizes that this organization may encompass several locations but must

have a single contact point, which is the mailing address entered on the CCD school record.

There may be situations in which students are attending two schools at the same time (e.g., a

regular school and a vocational school). In these situations, the student is counted where he/she

receives education for the majority of the time.

States report data to the EDFacts data collection system through multiple file groups that are

submitted on a reporting schedule at different dates throughout the year. The 2011-12 school

year EDFacts collection of CCD submissions opened in January 2012. NCES extracted the

preliminary data from EDFacts between January 2012 and September 2012. CCD survey staff

processed these file groups on a flow basis, so the date of the extract for each file group and each

state may vary depending on when SEAs completed their submission for each file group. Table 1

lists the data items included in each file and the exact dates when the data files were extracted

from EDFacts (see footnote 1 for a list of variables included in the file group).

3 Schools in the CCD may have no reported enrollment but still serve students because students can only be reported among the

membership of one school. For example, a vocational school may serve students who are dually enrolled in a regular school and

the regular school reports their membership. This vocational school serves students, but would have no reported enrollment in the

CCD because the students are included in the membership of the regular school.

4

Table 1. File Extraction Dates for Directory1 Files: School Year 2011-12

State name Date

State name

Date

Alabama 9/20/12 New Jersey 9/20/12

Alaska 9/20/12 New Mexico 9/20/12

Arizona 9/20/12 New York 9/21/12

Arkansas 9/20/12 North Carolina 9/20/12

California 9/20/12 North Dakota 9/21/12

Colorado 9/20/12 Ohio 9/20/12

Connecticut 9/20/12 Oklahoma 9/20/12

Delaware 9/20/12 Oregon 9/20/12

District of Columbia 9/20/12 Pennsylvania 9/20/12

Florida 9/24/12 Rhode Island 9/20/12

Georgia 9/20/12 South Carolina 9/20/12

Hawaii 9/20/12 South Dakota 9/20/12

Idaho 9/20/12 Tennessee 9/21/12

Illinois 9/20/12 Texas 9/21/12

Indiana 9/20/12 Utah 9/20/12

Iowa 9/20/12 Vermont 9/20/12

Kansas 9/20/12 Virginia 9/21/12

Kentucky 9/20/12 Washington 9/21/12

Louisiana 9/20/12 West Virginia 9/21/12

Maine 9/21/12 Wisconsin 9/21/12

Maryland 9/20/12 Wyoming 9/21/12

Massachusetts 9/20/12 Bureau of Indian

Michigan 9/20/12 Education 9/20/12

Minnesota 9/20/12 Guam 3/26/12

Mississippi 9/20/12 Northern

Missouri 9/20/12 Marianas 3/29/12

Montana 9/21/12 Puerto Rico 9/20/12

Nebraska 9/20/12 Virgin Island 9/20/12

Nevada 9/21/12

New Hampshire 9/20/12

1 Directory file group contains the following variables: NCESSCH, LEAID, STID,

SCHNO, SEASCH, LEANM, SCHNAM, PHONE, MSTREE, MCITY, MSTATE, MZIP,

MZIP4, LSTREE, LCITY, LSTATE, LZIP, LZIP4, TYPE, STATUS, CHARTR, and FIPST.

5

Comments about the Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Data

Preliminary Directory File

Users of the data file need to be aware of certain characteristics of the file.

Coverage. The coverage of the Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey includes

all public schools providing education services to prekindergarten, kindergarten, grade 1–12, and

ungraded students. There are 57 responding units: the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto

Rico, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the four U.S. Island Areas. The DoDEA schools, and

American Samoa are not included in the preliminary school file.

Response. Item response is described in Appendix B— Value Distribution and Field

Frequencies. This appendix lists total number of units and the number of units with missing data.

Appendix B also lists the frequency of responses by option for each of the categorical values.

Nonsampling error. Nonsampling error is the error in an estimate arising at any stage in the

survey from sources exclusive of sampling error. Nonsampling error includes nonresponse error;

data processing or data entry errors, or reporting error because respondents misinterpret survey

questions or do not follow survey instructions or do not follow the item definitions correctly.

State education policies may differ in such a way that does not allow them to map their data

exactly to the CCD definitions. For example, some states issue several kinds of high school

credentials, while other states issue a regular diploma to every student who meets requirements

(which may also vary). Another source of nonsampling error may be variations in the reference

period for the reported data. For example, CCD requests data for October 1 of each school year,

but a state may report their information for another date because they were not able to capture

the data for October 1. NCES attempts to minimize nonsampling error through the use of annual

training of SEA coordinators, extensive quality reviews, and survey editing procedures.

Coverage error. Coverage error is another source of nonsampling error that occurs when the

measured universe of schools and agencies varies from the actual target universe; for example,

the same agency or school could be reported twice (i.e. overcoverage) or an agency or school

could be omitted (i.e. undercoverage). To minimize coverage error CCD Survey Staff conducts

an extensive review of the schools submitted by SEAs by matching to the universe reported in

the prior year and ensuring that each school is only counted once and that each school is

accounted for with the appropriate operational status. Additionally, in the summer of 2012,

additional effort was made to improve the coverage of charter schools in the school universe

through comparison of the school universe to additional administrative data sources.

Although longitudinal consistency is a key principle of the CCD, it is impossible for NCES to

guarantee that state data coordinators follow CCD conventions regarding the deletion of closed

schools or agencies and the addition of new ones. Confusion is likely when local education

agencies merge. Coverage issues (deletions of schools/agencies, merging of schools/agencies)

can affect the ability to track a given school/agency over time.

Although CCD coverage of traditional public schools and school districts is virtually 100

percent, the same cannot be said for publicly funded education outside of traditional settings and

6

organizations. The CCD asks states to report all free elementary/secondary public education in

their state regardless of who administers the schools or districts. However, some states that do

not report schools that are administered by state organizations other than SEAs (such as a health

and human services or a corrections department). These schools include schools for the deaf and

blind, university lab schools, and other schools not covered by the authority of the SEA.

Missing data. Not all states had reported all items by the time the preliminary directory file was

constructed. It is anticipated these data items will be reported and included in the final file.

These items are distinguished from cases in which states reported that data are missing.

Missing value options. All data elements are either completed by the state or have been filled

with a “0,” “-1,” “-2,” “M,” and “N.”

0 – There are no occurrences of this data element. A value was expected and

measured, but there were no cases in the category.

M (or -1 for numeric values) – A value was expected and the state reported the value

was not measured. (For example, a regular school that should report at least one

student but cannot count the number of students would report -1.)

N (or -2 for numeric values) – Data are not applicable. A value was neither expected

nor measured. (For example, a shared time school may report -2 for total student

count.)

Suppressing data. Invalid values were suppressed as missing for the variables that have not been

fully edited to avoid misuse or misinterpretation of the data. For example, an invalid code of “7”

for school type would be changed to “M” because there is no such school type code.

Comments about the Variables

Data users should also take note of certain conditions regarding each variable in the file. The

code in parentheses before the variable description indicates the variable name, which is also

referenced in Appendix A. Counts exclude closed, inactive or future schools (STATUS = 2, 6,

or 7), and do not match counts in Appendix B, which includes all schools.

(FIPST) ANSI4 State Code. Each record contains an American National Standards Institute

(ANSI) state code. A list of ANSI codes for each state and jurisdiction is presented in table 2.

(LEAID) NCES Local Education Agency ID. Each record contains a unique NCES Local

Education Agency ID number assigned to each record. The first two characters of this number

are the ANSI code.

4 American National Standards Institute (ANSI) codes replace the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)

codes previously issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the 50 states, the District

of Columbia, and the U.S. Island Areas. ANSI state code values map directly to the retired FIPS code values.

7

(SCHNO) NCES School ID. Each record contains a unique NCES school identification number.

Combining the NCES Local Education Agency ID with the NCES School ID allows the user to

uniquely identify each school on the file.

(STID) State Local Education Agency ID. Each record contains a State Local Education Agency

ID. State Local Education Agency ID numbers are assigned by SEAs and may not be unique

across states.

(SEASCH) State School ID. Each record contains a State School ID. State School ID numbers

are assigned by SEAs and may not be unique across states.

(LEANM) Name of Education Agency. Each record includes the name of the agency that

operates the school. NCES reviewed any record filling the 60 characters assigned, and may have

edited the agency name to improve readability (i.e., applied standard abbreviations).

(SCHNAM) Name of School. Each record has a school name. NCES reviewed any record filling

the 50 characters assigned, and may have edited the school name to improve readability (i.e.,

applied standard abbreviations).

(PHONE) Area code + Telephone Number. If a valid phone number was not provided for a

school for the 2011–12 school year, NCES researched prior year data files back to the 2004–05

school year to determine if a valid phone number was reported for the school in a prior year. If a

valid number was found in a prior year, this phone number was carried forward to the 2011–12

data file. After completing this editing process, phone numbers are missing (“M”) for 10

records.

(MSTREE) Mailing Street. This field may contain a street address or a P.O. Box number. Also,

some mailing addresses consist solely of a city and state, indicated by an “N” in the street

address field. If mailing street, city, state, and ZIP Code fields were left blank or missing, data

from the corresponding location address fields were inserted.

(MCITY) Mailing City. There may be some valid cases in which a school may be located in one

city and have a mailing address in another city.

(MSTATE) Mailing State (PO Abbreviation). Each record contains a mailing state. There are

instances where a school that is part of one state’s education system reports a mailing address in

another state; these situations have been confirmed by the reporting state. A list of the 12 schools

that have a mailing state code different from their ANSI state code is included at the end of this

document (see Table 3).

(MZIP, MZIP4) Mailing ZIP Code +4. Each record displays a mailing ZIP Code in this field.

The +4 may be left blank if it is unknown.

(LSTREE) Location Street. If the location street, city, state, and ZIP Code fields were left blank,

data from the corresponding mailing address fields were inserted. In some instances, SEAs did

not report physical locations for the location street field, but rather reported Post Office boxes

and other addresses that did not represent the location of a school. NCES sponsored research to

determine the physical location (and latitude and longitude coordinates) for these types of

location street reports. Missing or nonlocation addresses (e.g., Post Office box numbers) were

8

resolved through several means, including telephone calls to individual schools. In addition to

this research, if a valid location street was not provided for a school for the 2011–12 school year,

NCES researched prior year data files back to the 2004–05 school year to determine if a valid

location street was reported for the school in a prior year. If a valid location street was found for

a prior year, this value was carried forward to the 2011–12 data file. After completing this

editing process, 26 schools have missing, (“M”) location street values.

(LCITY) Location City. Each record displays a location city in this field.

(LSTATE) Location State (PO Abbreviation). Each record displays a location state in this field.

(LZIP, LZIP4) Location Zip Code +4. Each record displays a location Zip Code in this field. The

+4 may be left blank if it is unknown.

(TYPE) School Type Code. Each record contains a school type code.

1 = Regular school

2 = Special education school

3 = Vocational education school

4 = Alternative/other school

5 = Reportable program

Beginning with the 2007–08 school year, the CCD edits the reported school type if it does not

agree with the CCD definition. For example, if a school name indicated that it focused primarily

on the needs of students with disabilities or if the state reported that at least 80 percent of the

students enrolled in the school had special education individual education programs (IEPs),

NCES reclassified the school as a special education school. (The number of students with IEPs

was reported to EDFacts collection system at the school and LEA level, but the CCD only

contained IEP data at the LEA level.) Similarly, if a school name suggested that it was a

vocational or alternative school, NCES researched the school through different resources (e.g.,

school website or education association) or by calling the school to determine if the school

should be reclassified as a vocational or alternative school. NCES asked CCD Coordinators to

review these reclassifications, and if they provided evidence that a school met the CCD criteria

for the originally reported type, the school type was not changed.

(STATUS) Operational Status Code. Each record contains a status code to reflect the school’s

operational status for the 2011–12 school year. Valid responses include the following:

1 = School was operational at the time of the last report and is currently operational.

2 = School has closed since the time of the last report.

3 = School has been opened since the time of the last report.

9

4 = School was in existence, but not reported in a previous year’s CCD school universe

survey, and is now being added.

5 = School was listed in previous year’s CCD school universe as being affiliated with a

different education agency.

6 = School is temporarily closed and may reopen within 3 years.

7 = School is scheduled to be operational within 2 years.

8 = School was closed on a previous year’s file but has reopened.

Schools with an operational status code of “2” remain on the file for one year for historical

purposes.

Code “6” and “7” response options for the STATUS field were added to the CCD starting with

the 2002–03 file. Code “8” response option for the STATUS field was added to the CCD starting

with the 2005–06 file.

(ULOCAL) Urban-centric Locale Code. Locale code is a geographic indicator NCES applies for

general description, sampling, and other statistical purposes. The locale assignment is based on

the location of school buildings and may not necessarily reflect the entire attendance area or the

residences of all enrolled students. The designation of each school’s locale is primarily based on

its geographic location and proximity to densely populated urban areas. The Census Bureau first

develops address geocodes (i.e., latitude/longitude coordinates representing address location)

from school addresses reported in the CCD, and then uses a geographic information system

(GIS) to evaluate the spatial relationship between the location of a school and the geographic

criteria for each locale (derived from standard Census geographic concepts). Locale types (City,

Suburb, Town, and Rural) and subtypes (Large, Midsize, and Small for City and Suburb locales,

and Fringe, Distant, and Remote for Town and Rural locales) were assigned to all schools in the

50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of

the Northern Mariana Islands. Distance criteria for Town and Rural locales are assessed based on

straight-line or Euclidean distance. Definitions of locale codes are contained in the “Comments

About the Data Fields” section appearing earlier in this document.

ULOCAL is missing (M) for 122 schools in the jurisdictions of Arizona (8 schools), Connecticut

(3 schools), Florida (4 schools), Georgia (2 schools), Idaho (3 schools), Illinois (1 school),

Kansas (1 school), Maine (1 school), Michigan (5 schools), Minnesota (1 school), Nevada (1

school), New Jersey (12 schools), New York (29 schools), North Carolina (3 schools),

Oklahoma (1 school), South Carolina (10 schools), Texas (3 schools), Utah (3 schools), Virginia

(1 school), Washington (20 schools), and Wyoming (10 schools).

The 12 urban-centric locale code categories are defined below. Locale codes are divided into

four main locale types (city, suburb, town, and rural) and each of the four locale types has three

subtypes (large, midsize, and small for city and suburb locale types and fringe, distant, and

remote for town and rural locale types).

10

11 = City, Large: Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with

population of 250,000 or more.

12 = City, Midsize: Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with

population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.

13 = City, Small: Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with

population less than 100,000.

21 = Suburb, Large: Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with


22 = Suburb, Midsize: Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with


23 = Suburb, Small: Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with


31 = Town, Fringe: Territory inside an urban cluster that is less than or equal to 10 miles

from an urbanized area.

32 = Town, Distant: Territory inside an urban cluster that is more than 10 miles and less

than or equal to 35 miles from an urbanized area.

33 = Town, Remote: Territory inside an urban cluster that is more than 35 miles of an

urbanized area.

41 = Rural, Fringe: Census-defined rural territory that is less than or equal to 5 miles

from an urbanized area, as well as rural territory that is less than or equal to 2.5

miles from an urban cluster.

42 = Rural, Distant: Census-defined rural territory that is more than 5 miles but less than

or equal to 25 miles from an urbanized area, as well as rural territory that is more

than 2.5 miles but less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban cluster.

43 = Rural, Remote: Census-defined rural territory that is more than 25 miles from an

urbanized area and is also more than 10 miles from an urban cluster.

(LATCOD) Latitude. Latitude is the north or south angular distance from the equator, with

positive values going north and negative values going south. When combined with longitude, it

reflects an estimation of where the school is physically situated on the street segment to which it

was coded. Coordinate degrees, minutes, and seconds have been converted to, and are displayed

in terms of, their decimal equivalent. The digits to the left of the decimal point represent the

number of degrees from the equator, and the digits to the right of the decimal point represent the

fraction of the degree carried out to six decimal places. For example, if a building’s latitude is 30

11

degrees, 30 minutes north, then it is shown as 30.500000. There were no addresses that could not

be found at the Census block level. There were schools added to the file after the geographical

data was applied. These records have a value of 0.000000.

(LONCOD) Longitude. Longitude is the east or west angular distance from the prime meridian,

with positive values going east and negative values going west. When combined with latitude, it

reflects an estimation of where the school is physically situated on the street segment to which it

was coded. Coordinate degrees, minutes, and seconds have been converted to, and are displayed

in terms of, their decimal equivalent. The digits to the left of the decimal point represent the

number of degrees from the prime meridian. The digits to the right of the decimal point represent

the fraction of the next degree carried out to six decimal places. For example, if a building’s

longitude is 90 degrees, 15 minutes west, then it is shown as –90.250000. There were schools

added to the file after the geographical data was applied. These records have a value of

0.000000.

(CONUM) ANSI County Code. This field was added to the school file starting in 2002–03. The

values for this field are determined by the Census Bureau based on the reported location address.

A small number of supervisory unions in New England states have an ANSI county code that

differs from the county in which the school is physically located. CONUM is missing (M) for

122 schools in the jurisdictions of Arizona (8 schools), Connecticut (3 schools), Florida (4

schools), Georgia (2 schools), Idaho (3 schools), Illinois (1 school), Kansas (1 school), Maine (1

school), Michigan (5 schools), Minnesota (1 school), Nevada (1 school), New Jersey (12

schools), New York (29 schools), North Carolina (3 schools), Oklahoma (1 school), South

Carolina (10 schools), Texas (3 schools), Utah (3 schools), Virginia (1 school), Washington (20

schools), and Wyoming (10 schools) because the SEAs submitted new directory information for

these schools after the file had undergone geocode processing.

(CONAME) County Name. This field was added to the school file starting in 2002–03. The

values for this field are determined by the Census Bureau based on the reported location address.

CONAME is shown as missing (M) for 122 schools in the jurisdictions of Arizona (8 schools),

Connecticut (3 schools), Florida (4 schools), Georgia (2 schools), Idaho (3 schools), Illinois (1

school), Kansas (1 school), Maine (1 school), Michigan (5 schools), Minnesota (1 school),

Nevada (1 school), New Jersey (12 schools), New York (29 schools), North Carolina (3 schools),

Oklahoma (1 school), South Carolina (10 schools), Texas (3 schools), Utah (3 schools), Virginia

(1 school), Washington (20 schools), and Wyoming (10 schools) because the SEAs submitted

new directory information for these schools after the file had undergone geocode processing.

(CDCODE) Congressional District Code. The Congressional District Code denotes legislatively

defined subdivisions of a state for the purpose of electing representatives or delegates to the

House of Representatives of the United States Congress. Starting in 2006–07, the Congressional

Districts of the United States Code was added to the school file. The ANSI code provides the

structure of numeric codes for representing congressional districts and similar areas defined for

the various Congresses of the United States. CDCODE is shown as missing (M) for 122 schools

in the jurisdictions of Arizona (8 schools), Connecticut (3 schools), Florida (4 schools), Georgia

(2 schools), Idaho (3 schools), Illinois (1 school), Indiana (1 school), Kansas (1 school), Maine

(1 school), Michigan (5 schools), Minnesota (1 school), Nevada (1 school), New Jersey (12

12

schools), New York (29 schools), North Carolina (3 schools), Oklahoma (1 school), South

Carolina (10 schools), Texas (3 schools), Utah (3 schools), Virginia (1 school), Washington (20

schools), and Wyoming (10 schools) because the SEAs submitted new directory information for

these schools after the file had undergone geocode processing.

(GSLO, GSHI) Low/High Grade Span Offered. The lowest and highest grades offered in each

school was calculated by NCES using two types of information reported by states: (1) binary

‘grade offered’ flags that indicate whether a given grade (e.g., prekindergarten, kindergarten,

grade 1) was offered by the school; and (2) reports of enrollment by grade. The values for this

variable have not been edited and are missing for schools in which enrollment is not finalized.

(CHARTR) Charter School. This variable indicates whether a school is a charter school. The

values for this variable have not been fully edited and are given in the preliminary directory file

as reported from the states.

1 = Yes

2 = No

M = Missing

N = Not applicable

Locale Code Methodology

Locale code is a geographic indicator NCES applies for general description, sampling, and other

statistical purposes. The locale assignment is based on the location of school buildings and may

not necessarily reflect the entire attendance area or the residences of all enrolled students. The

designation of each school’s locale is primarily based on its geographic location and proximity to

densely populated urban areas. The Census Bureau first develops address geocodes (i.e.,

latitude/longitude coordinates representing address location) from school addresses reported in

the CCD, and then uses a geographic information system (GIS) to evaluate the spatial

relationship between the location of a school and the geographic criteria for each locale (derived

from standard Census geographic concepts). Locale types (City, Suburb, Town, and Rural) and

subtypes (Large, Midsize, and Small for City and Suburb locales, and Fringe, Distant, and

Remote for Town and Rural locales) were assigned to all schools in the 50 states, District of

Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern

Mariana Islands. Distance criteria for Town and Rural locales are assessed based on straight-line

or Euclidean distance. Definitions of locale codes are contained in the “Comments About the

Data Fields” section appearing earlier in this document.

13

Table 2. American National Standards Institute (ANSI) State Codes and Abbreviations Used in

CCD Datasets

State name/jurisdiction ANSI1

Abbreviation2

State name/jurisdiction ANSI

Abbreviation

Alabama 01 AL Ohio 39 OH

Alaska 02 AK Oklahoma 40 OK

Arizona 04 AZ Oregon 41 OR

Arkansas 05 AR Pennsylvania 42 PA

California 06 CA Rhode Island 44 RI

Colorado 08 CO South Carolina 45 SC

Connecticut 09 CT South Dakota 46 SD

Delaware 10 DE Tennessee 47 TN

District of Columbia 11 DC Texas 48 TX

Florida 12 FL Utah 49 UT

Georgia 13 GA Vermont 50 VT

Hawaii 15 HI Virginia 51 VA

Idaho 16 ID Washington 53 WA

Illinois 17 IL West Virginia 54 WV

Indiana 18 IN Wisconsin 55 WI

Iowa 19 IA Wyoming 56 WY

Kansas 20 KS Department of Defense

Kentucky 21 KY Education Activity 633 DD

Louisiana 22 LA Bureau of Indian

Maine 23 ME Education 593 BI

Maryland 24 MD American Samoa 60 AS

Massachusetts 25 MA Guam 66 GU

Michigan 26 MI Commonwealth of the

Minnesota 27 MN Northern Mariana 69 MP

Mississippi 28 MS Puerto Rico 72 PR

Missouri 29 MO U.S. Virgin Islands 78 VI

Montana 30 MT

Nebraska 31 NE

Nevada 32 NV

New Hampshire 33 NH

New Jersey 34 NJ

New Mexico 35 NM

New York 36 NY

North Carolina 37 NC

North Dakota 38 ND

1 American National Standards Institute state codes (01–78). 2 U.S. Postal Service state abbreviation codes. 3 Not official U.S. ANSI state code. The state abbreviations for Department of Defense Education Activity are AA, AE, and AP

to indicate schools located in Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, respectively. For Department of Defense schools and Bureau of

Indian Education schools, state abbreviations correspond to the state in which the school is located.

SOURCE: U.S. Geography Division, Geographic Standards and Criteria Branch. (2010). “Codes for the Identification of the

States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Insular Areas of the United States (INCITS 38:2009).” Washington, DC:

U.S. Census Bureau.

14

Table 3. List of Schools with Mailing Address in Another State: School Year 2011-12

Administration State NCES ID School Name City State

Arizona 040081102855 OMBUDSMAN - CHARTER EAST

II

LIBERTYVILLE IL

District of Columbia 110007800213 NEW BEGINNINGS (FORMERLY

OAK HILL)

LAUREL MD

110008700213 NEW BEGINNINGS LAUREL MD

Idaho 160261000459 PLEASANT VALLEY ELEM-JR

HIGH

JORDAN VALLEY OR

Indiana 181161001870 COLLEGE CORNER UNION ELEM

SCH

COLLEGE

CORNER

OH

New Jersey 340073903053 EXCELLENCE CS PHILADELPHIA PA

North Dakota 380567000826 SQUAW GAP SCHOOL SIDNEY MT

382034000714 EAST FAIRVIEW ELEMENTARY

SCHOOL

FAIRVIEW MT

South Dakota 467209000504 LAKEVIEW ELEMENTARY - 09 CROOKSTON NE

467209000506 LITTLEBURG ELEMENTARY - 12 VALENTINE NE

Utah 490090000491 NAVAJO MOUNTAIN HIGH TONALEA AZ

Vermont 500002400180 RIVENDELL ACADEMY ORFORD NH

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, “Public Elementary/Secondary

School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File: School Year 2011-12”.

15

B. Limitations of the Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Data Preliminary

Directory File

As mentioned in the Introduction Section, this preliminary directory file is created to provide

users with data for purposes that may have a greater need for timeliness than for verified

accuracy. Although most of the variables in the file have been examined and edited, some

variables are still being screened and checked. Two caveats should be noted. First, due to the

incomplete data editing process, the file may contain errors that have not yet been resolved and

thus may not be representative of the characteristics for a particular school. Second, because

states may revise their reported data after the preliminary directory file is published, the

preliminary directory file may not reflect the final data states submit.

A-1

Appendix A – Record Layout for the Common Core of Data Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File:

School Year 2011-12


A-3

Appendix A – Record Layout for the Common Core of Data

Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File: School Year 2011-12

(+) Fields represent subfields of the fields immediately preceding them.

The file contains data for the school year 2011-12 sorted by the NCES assigned school identification code (NCESSCH).

Note that all numeric fields contain a -1 to indicate a value was expected and the state reported that the value was not measured, and a

-2 to indicate not applicable. Character fields “M” for a value was expected and the state reported the value was not measured, and

“N” for not applicable. “AN” and “N” are alphanumeric and numeric data, respectively.

Variable Name Order Data Type Description

SURVYEAR 1 AN Year corresponding to survey record.

NCESSCH 2 AN Unique NCES public school ID (7-digit NCES agency ID (LEAID) + 5-digit NCES

school ID (SCHNO).

FIPST 3+ AN American National Standards Institute (ANSI) state code.

LEAID 4+ AN NCES local education agency (LEA) ID.

NOTE: The state to which the LEA belongs is identified by the first two digits (FIPS

code) of the LEAID.

SCHNO 5+ AN NCES school ID.

NOTE: SCHNO is a unique number within an LEA.

By combining LEAID with SCHNO, each school can be uniquely identified within the

total file (see NCESSCH above).

STID 6 AN State's own ID for the education agency.

SEASCH 7 AN State's own ID for the school.

LEANM 8 AN Name of the education agency that operates this school.

SCHNAM 9 AN Name of the school.

PHONE 10 AN Telephone number of school.

MSTREE 11 AN The mailing address of the school— may be a street address, a P.O. Box number, or, if

verified that there is no address beyond CITY, STATE, and ZIP, the character “N.”

MCITY 12 AN School mailing address city.

MSTATE 13 AN Two-letter U.S. Postal Service abbreviation of the state where the mailing address is

located (see FIPS state codes and abbreviations used in CCD dataset).

MZIP 14 AN Five-digit U.S. Postal Service ZIP code for the mailing address.

A-4


MZIP4 15 AN Four-digit (ZIP+4) code for the mailing address. If the mailing address has been

assigned the additional four-digit +4 ZIP, this field contains that number; otherwise,

this field is blank.

LSTREE 16 AN School location street address.

LCITY 17 AN School location city.

LSTATE 18 AN Two-letter U.S. Postal Service abbreviation of the state where the school address is

located (see FIPS state codes and abbreviations used in CCD dataset).

LZIP 19 AN Five-digit U.S. Postal Service ZIP code for the location address.

LZIP4 20 AN Four-digit (ZIP+4) code for the location address. If the mailing address has been

assigned the additional four-digit +4 ZIP, this field contains that number; otherwise,

this field is blank.

TYPE 21 AN NCES code for type of school:

1 = Regular school

2 = Special education school

3 = Vocational school

4 = Alternative / Other school

5 = Reportable program

STATUS 22 AN NCES code for the school status:

1 = School was operational at the time of the last report and is currently operational.

2 = School has closed since the time of the last report.

3 = School has been opened since the time of the last report.

4 = School was in existence, but not reported in a previous year’s CCD school universe

survey, and is now being added.

5 = School was listed in previous year’s CCD school universe as being affiliated with a

different education agency.

6 = School is temporarily closed and may reopen within 3 years.

7 = School is scheduled to be operational within 2 years.

8 = School was closed on a previous year’s file but has reopened.

A-5


ULOCAL 23 AN NCES urban-centric locale code.

NOTE: Starting in 2006–07, CCD data files contain a new locale code system based on

the urbanicity of the school location. Prior to 2006-07, the locale was assigned based on

an school's metro status.

11 = City, Large Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with


12 = City, Mid-size Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with a


13 = City, Small Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with a


21 = Suburb, Large Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with


22 = Suburb, Mid-size Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area

with a population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.

23 = Suburb, Small Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with

a population less than 100,000.

31 =Town, Fringe Territory inside an urban cluster that is less than or equal to 10 miles

from an urbanized area.

32 = Town, Distant Territory inside an urban cluster that is more than 10 miles and less

than or equal to 35 miles from an urbanized area.

33 = Town, Remote Territory inside an urban cluster that is more than 35 miles from an

urbanized area.

41 = Rural, Fringe Census-defined rural territory that is less than or equal to 5 miles

from an urbanized area, as well as rural territory that is less than or equal to 2.5

miles from an urban cluster.

42 = Rural, Distant Census-defined rural territory that is more than 5 miles but less than

or equal to 25 miles from an urbanized area, as well as rural territory that is more

than 2.5 miles but less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban cluster.

43 = Rural, Remote Census-defined rural territory that is more than 25 miles from an

urbanized area and is also more than 10 miles from an urban cluster.

LATCOD 24 N Latitude: Based on the location of the school, the value of LATCOD ranges from 13 to

71. It contains an explicit decimal point. The digits to the left of the decimal represent

the number of degrees from the equator; the digits to the right of the decimal represent

the fraction of the next degree carried out to six decimal places.

LONCOD 25 N Longitude: Based on the location of the school, the value of LONCOD ranges from

-177 to 146. The minus sign (-) indicates west of the prime meridian. It contains an

explicit decimal point. The digits to the left of the decimal point represent the number

of degrees from the prime meridian; the digits to the right of the decimal point represent

the fraction of the next degree carried out to six decimal places.

A-6


CONUM 26 AN ANSI county number (two digit ANSI state numeric code + three digits ANSI county

code) based on the location of the school.

CONAME 27 AN County name based on the location of the school.

CDCODE 28 AN Congressional district code based on the location of the school. ANSI numeric code for

the congressional districts that are legislatively defined subdivisions of the state for the

purpose of electing representatives to the House of Representative of the United States

Congress. The first two digits are the ANSI state numeric code, which makes the

congressional district code unique across states.

GSLO 29 AN School low grade offered. The following codes are used:

UG = Ungraded

PK = Prekindergarten

KG = Kindergarten

01–12 = 1st through 12th grade

N = School had no students reported

UG and N each occur only in isolation from other codes. When one of these does

occur, it is both the lowest (GSLO) and the highest (GSHI) grade.

GSHI 30 AN School high grade offered. The following codes are used:

UG = Ungraded

PK = Prekindergarten

KG = Kindergarten

01–12 = 1st through 12th grade

N = School had no students reported

UG and N each occur only in isolation from other codes. When one of these does

occur, it is both the lowest (GSLO) and the highest (GSHI) grade.

CHARTR 31 AN Charter school. A school that provides free elementary and/or secondary education to

eligible students under a specific charter granted by the state legislature or other

appropriate authority.

1 = Yes

2 = No

B-1

Appendix B – Value Distribution and Field Frequencies for the Common Core of Data Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File:

School Year 2011-12


B-3

Appendix B – Value Distribution and Field Frequencies for the Common Core of Data Public

Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Preliminary Directory File: School Year 2011-12

Variable Label M1

N1

Other

NCESSCH Unique School ID 0 0 103,264

LEAID Unique Agency ID (NCES Assigned) 0 0 103,264

FIPST ANSI State Number 0 0 103,264

STID State Local Education Number 0 0 103,264

SEASCH State School Identifier 5 0 103,259

LEANM LEA Name 0 0 103,264

SCHNAM School Name 0 0 103,264

PHONE School Phone Number 10 9 103,245

MSTREE School Mailing Address 0 0 103,264

MCITY School Mailing City 0 0 103,264

MSTATE School Mailing USPS State Abbreviation 0 0 103,264

MZIP School Mailing Zip 0 0 103,264

MZIP4 School Mailing Zip Plus 4 24,835 0 78,429

LSTREE School Location Address 27 0 103,237

LCITY School Location City 0 0 103,264

LSTATE School Location USPS State Abbreviation 0 0 103,264

LZIP School Location Zip 0 0 103,264

LZIP4 School Location Zip Plus 4 25,173 0 78,091

LATCOD Latitude 3232 0 102,941

LONCOD Longitude 3232 0 102,941

CONUM ANSI County Code 323 0 102,941

CONAME County Name 323 0 102,941

CDCODE Congressional District Code 323 0 102,941 1 M indicates the data are missing; a value was expected, but no value was measured. N indicates the data are not applicable; a

value was neither expected nor measured.

2 The Longitude and Latitude missing cells are displayed as 0.000000. The data are missing because the schools were added after

the geographical data were applied to the file. These schools will be coded on the final file.

B-4

School Type

TYPE Frequency

Percent Cumulative

Frequency

Cumulative

Percent

1 Regular school 92,349 89.43 92,349 89.43

2 Special education school 2,204 2.13 94,553 91.56

3 Vocational education school 1,461 1.41 96,014 92.98

4 Alternative/other school 6,913 6.69 102,927 99.67

5 Reportable program 337 0.33 103,264 100.00

NOTE: The frequencies are based on all schools on the file, regardless operational status, and do not match the

frequencies listed in the second paragraph on page 2, which are based on operating schools only.

School Operational Status

STATUS Frequency Percent Cumulative

Frequency

Cumulative

Percent

1 School was operational at the time of the last

report and is currently operational. 98,308 95.20 98,308 95.20

2 School has closed since the time of the last

report. 2,193 2.12 100,501 97.32

3 School has been opened since the time of the

last report. 1,520 1.47 102,021 98.80

4 School was in existence, but not reported in a

previous year’s CCD school universe survey,

and is now being added. 26 0.03 102,047 98.82

5 School was listed in previous year’s CCD

school universe as being affiliated with a

different education agency. 162 0.16 102,209 98.98

6 School is temporarily closed and expected to

reopen within 3 years. 533 0.52 102,742 99.49

7 School has never been operational but is

scheduled to be operational within 2 years. 461 0.45 103,203 99.94

8 School was closed on a previous year’s file but

has reopened. 61 0.06 103,264 100.00

B-5

Urban-Centric Local Code

ULOCAL Frequency Percent Cumulative

Frequency

Cumulative

Percent

11–City, large 13,912 13.47 13,912 13.47

12–City, midsize 5,966 5.78 19,878 19.25

13–City, small 7,215 6.99 27,093 26.24

21–Suburb, large 23,438 22.70 50,531 48.93

22–Suburb, midsize 2,978 2.88 53,509 51.82

23–Suburb, small 1,964 1.90 55,473 53.72

31–Town, fringe 1,948 1.89 57,421 55.61

32–Town, distant 6,977 6.76 64,398 62.36

33–Town, remote 5,052 4.89 69,450 67.25

41–Rural, fringe 14,451 13.99 83,901 81.25

42–Rural, distant 11,794 11.42 95,695 92.67

43–Rural, remote 7,246 7.02 102,941 99.69

M–Missing 323 0.31 103,264 100.00

N–Not applicable 0 0.00 103,264 100.00

B-6

School Low Grade Offered

GSLO Frequency Percent Cumulative

Frequency

Cumulative

Percent

01 – 1st grade students 1,012 0.98 1,012 0.98

02 – 2nd

grade students 520 0.50 1,532 1.48

03 – 3rd

grade students 1,360 1.32 2,892 2.80

04 – 4th grade students 1,155 1.12 4,047 3.92




08 – 8 th

grade students 912 0.88 23,283 22.55

09 – 9 th grade students 13,209 12.79 36,492 35.34

10 – 10 th grade students 809 0.78 37,301 36.12

11 – 11 th

grade students 206 0.20 37,507 36.32

12 – 12th grade students 116 0.11 37,623 36.43

KG – Kindergarten students 21,100 20.43 58,723 56.87

N – Not applicable 904 0.88 59,627 57.74

PK – Prekindergarten students 28,853 27.94 88,480 85.68

UG – Students in ungraded classes 180 0.17 88,660 85.86

M – Missing 14,604 14.14 103,264 100.00

B-7

School High Grade Offered

GSHI Frequency Percent Cumulative

Frequency

Cumulative

Percent

01 – 1st grade students 464 0.45 464 0.45

02 – 2nd

grade students 1,404 1.36 1,868 1.81

03 – 3rd

grade students 1,444 1.40 3,312 3.21




07 – 7th grade students 489 0.47 40,810 39.52

08 – 8 th

grade students 17,388 16.84 58,198 56.36

09 – 9 th

grade students 1,556 1.51 59,754 57.87

10 – 10 th

grade students 293 0.28 60,047 58.15

11 – 11 th

grade students 324 0.31 60,371 58.46

12 – 12 th grade students 25,508 24.70 85,879 83.16

KG – Kindergarten students 489 0.47 86,368 83.64

N – Not applicable 904 0.88 87,272 84.51

PK – Prekindergarten students 1,208 1.17 88,480 85.68

UG – Students in ungraded classes 180 0.17 88,660 85.86

M – Missing 14,604 14.14 103,264 100.00

B-8

Charter School Indicator

CHARTR Frequency Percent Cumulative

Frequency

Cumulative

Percent

1 Yes 6,212 6.02 6,212 6.02

2 No 84,792 82.11 91,004 88.13

M 40 0.04 91,044 88.17

N 12,220 11.83 103,264 100.00

M = The data were expected and the state reported the data were not measured.

N = The data are not applicable.

Documents

Documentation to the NCES Common Core of Data Public ...nces.ed.gov/ccd/pdf/2012323.pdfschools coded as operating. 2. and 3,187 schools coded as non-operating schools. Among the operating